Bank of America has named Lisa Shalett chief investment officer of Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management and head of investment management and guidance.

Based in New Jersey, Shalett will report to Kunal S. Kamlani, head of global investment solutions.

"Lisa's intellectual acumen and proven leadership skills make her ideally suited to lead our efforts in working with clients to help achieve their goals through objective investment advice and guidance," says Kamlani. "Moreover, her experience with fundamental and quantitative research will complement our investment management and guidance organisation, which has become an invaluable differentiator for Merrill Lynch financial advisers and clients through its work on strategic asset allocation, portfolio construction, and best-in-class manager due diligence."

Shalett will be responsible for Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management investment strategy around the world. In addition, she will oversee investment management and guidance's investment analytics and investment guidance teams, as well as the ultra high net worth investment office, which creates institutional-calibre investment policies, asset allocation and portfolio solutions for ultra high net worth clients.

Shalett will join Bank of America from AllianceBernstein, where she served as partner and head of global growth equities. In this role, she led the investment services unit responsible for managing all growth-style equity mandates. She also provided strategic direction and business oversight for product platforms and portfolios across the firm's institutional, retail and private client channels. She served as team lead on all US research portfolios and the flagship Global Research Growth portfolio and was a member of the firm's executive committee.

Prior to this, Shalett served as chair and chief executive officer of Sanford C. Bernstein, where she oversaw global research, sales and trading. Shalett previously held positions as global research director and equity analyst.

Early in her career, she served as a management consultant at the Boston Consulting Group and Booz, Allen and Hamilton.